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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28133220">The Funny Side of Everything</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c'>sanctum_c</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Aerith Month 2018 [24]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, Cetra (Compilation of FFVII), Cosmo Canyon (Compilation of FFVII), Gen, Introspection, Loneliness, Memories, Mid-Canon, Missing Scene, Not Before Crisis (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Compilation of Final Fantasy VII Compliant, Not Crisis Core (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Dirge of Cerberus (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Final Fantasy VII Remake Compliant, POV Aerith Gainsborough, Past Zack Fair/Aerith Gainsborough, Stars</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2018-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2018-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:41:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,174</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28133220</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Almost funny in the end; how disappointing much of what Aeris learned was, and how little hope remained for the future of her personal quest.</i>
</p><hr/><p>Aeris wants to revist the holographic display at Cosmo Canyon and lose herself among the stars.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Aerith Month 2018 [24]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009521</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Funny Side of Everything</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for the prompt 'Funniest moment'</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Almost funny in the end; how disappointing much of what Aeris learned was, and how little hope remained for the future of her personal quest. She moved quietly through the night, away from the others and towards the observatory at the pinnacle of Cosmo Canyon. The glimpse of the Planet from out in space, the dance of stars and other worlds; she needed to experience that again. Bugenhagen might still be awake. How could one sleep easy knowing what he did, after what he showed them? Like her he would be unable to rest while thoughts whirled and dreams amounted to nothing. All she wanted was a distraction. A chance to stare into those artificial stars and think of something, anything else.</p><p>But Aeris's hand stopped when she lifted it to knock on the door of the observatory that doubled as Bugenhagen's home. Who was she kidding? Far too late for someone of the Elder's age to be up. Not now, when the lights were off inside and the moon was high in the sky. Maybe she would get a chance tomorrow – depending on how repairs on the buggy went. Aeris retreated to the cliff edge and sat down, dangling her legs over the side.</p><p>Below the Cosmo Candle continued to burn, only the solitary guardian assigned the overnight duty still visible on the plateau. Above was the universe, the stars gleaming in the night sky. Not quite as clear as the nights on the container ship, but far more vivid than the sky above Kalm or Junon. A world apart from the faint pin-pricks poking through the mirk over Midgar. Even Gongaga had not been so clear-</p><p>She had forgotten his name. Aeris frowned. That man, barely more than a boy, stammering, nervous and flushing at her attention after she crept from Kalm on the first night out of Midgar. How could she possibly sleep now the world had opened up to her and there were untold vistas to explore? A world without high walls and gates. Somewhere without a metal sky and the clinging fog of pollution. Everyone else in Avalanche had previously seen something of the world outside Midgar at some point in their lives. She never had and now she had the chance, she could not bear to waste a minute.</p><p>The man in question was out in the wilderness a few hundred metres from the limits of Kalm. Better to see the stars by he said by way of explanation when she asked. He obliged her curiosity and tried vainly to focus on the sky and not her. His murmuring commentary noted he was far enough from Kalm to minimise light pollution, but not too distant to overly run a risk of monster attack. Likely he thought she did not notice the quick glances at her chest when she was looking up at the sky. No matter; space was far more interesting.</p><p>Aeris asked question after question and he answered. Constellations and galaxies hanging above them; cooling grass beneath her. A perspective so different to that which Bugenhagen offered. He showed Aeris and Avalanche that the multitude of stars was far vaster than those visible from the ground. Would that every revelation of late had been as joyous and enthralling. Seeking knowledge had lead her to so many new places; but not without cost.</p><p>The visit to Gongaga picked at a wound she had not realised was still there, though that at least offered a form of closure. Of her ex’s fate there could be little other explanation but his death, her old assumptions weak in the face of his parent's distress. There remained some lingering hope all the same. That she - and his parents - were wrong, that one day they might be able to meet and talk about what happened, but-</p><p>Relying - like she always had on this fact - too much on her unwanted ability. No guarantee she would have ever felt his passing like those others. Midgar was less riddle with blind spots with regard to her connection to the Planet and more of a gigantic blind spot in itself. The odd place existed where her mother’s voice was almost audible. The confirmation of a particular likely death was painful, but it was not like she had expected to somehow running across him again. No. This place – Cosmo Canyon – was where her hopes had run out.</p><p>There were no other Cetra left in the world. Not a single instance. It was of course possible that the Sages were wrong. Nothing to say that in some far-flung part of the world, well away from Shinra and its machinations, another of her kind still existed. Perhaps more than one. She could still hope. But like her certainty regarding Zack, protests about her isolated nature were now hollow. She was not so much hoping now, but more trying to deny something obvious.</p><p>She was the last Cetra and - if Hojo was correct - not even a true successor. The Sages offered all they could for her; what records remained regarding what her people were like, what they did, how they lived. But everything was old, outdated and incomplete. Of the few things all accounts could agree on was that she should be able hear and understand the Planet. The more disputed texts indicated there might be more, that the Planet should respond to her. Hard to imagine; outside of fleeting moments, the murmur that came in the voice of her Mother. Nothing that she felt from it was ever coherent or clear. Was that her nature as both Cetra and human interfering or a talent lost to time?</p><p>Funny. All her hopes pinned to what she might learn on this journey. And all those hopes had been for naught. Her journey began with a desire to learn more about herself and her ancestors. She knew more now, though all of it purely academic. But to live a Cetra life? That was something no one could teach her any longer. The Sages' books contained descriptions of traditions, ceremonies, beliefs. Could they begin again? Was there a merit to trying to bring them back?</p><p>And more importantly what would she do now? Going back to Midgar was to admit defeat and once more risk capture. She would go back eventually for Mom, of that there was no question, but what about the meantime? She could request a place here, learn what more she could of the Cetra. No; no desire to immerse herself in the transcribed vestiges of her culture. Two more options then; venture off into the world to see what else there was. There was a chance it might lead to finding another Cetra.</p><p>Alternatively she could stay with Avalanche. Who knew where their journey, where Sephiroth’s trail, would take them next? It had already lead them so far and in following it, she had gained so many friends. An easy choice in the end; she would see this journey through. And maybe eventually see the true funny side of everything.</p>
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